Marek Zvelebil a †, Malcolm C.

Lillieb, *, Janet Montgomery c, Alena Lukes d,

Paul Pettitt a, Mike P. Richards e

The emergence of the LBK: Migration, memory and meaning at the transition
to agriculture

* Corresponding Author: m.c.lillie@hull.ac.uk Abstract

a Department of Archaeology, Northgate House, Sheffield,
United Kingdom (Deceased)
b Department of Geography, University of Hull, United
Kingdom
c Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental
Sciences, University of Bradford, West Yorkshire,
United Kingdom
d Department of Anthropology, University of Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada
e Department of Anthropology, The University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
This paper represents one element of a collaborative research
project, funded by the AHRC, which focussed on a multidisci-
plinary study of the Earlier Neolithic cemetery of Vedrovice,
Moravia, Czech Republic. One of the key aims of this project
was the generation of new knowledge in relation to the emerg-
ence of the Linear Pottery, or Linearbandkeramik (LBK) cul-
ture in Europe. The current paper focuses on the evidence for
the shift from hunting and gathering to farming from the per-
spective of individual life histories and the transmission of
knowledge through migration and cultural exchanges.
Keywords
Linearbandkeramik (LBK), Bioarchaeology, Neolithic, Stron-
tium, aDNA, Migration, Cultural transition

Dedication: This paper is dedicated to the memory of the first author, Professor Marek Zvelebil who died
unexpectedly on the 7th July 2011 aged 59. For over 30 years Marek was a leading figure in archaeology,
and internationally he was widely regarded as being among the most important and influential archae-
ological thinkers of his generation. Marek was a consummate intellectual who lived life to the full, he
was a mentor, friend and inspiration to many in a generation of archaeologists, he will be sorely missed.

Introduction

The Linearbandkeramik Culture (LBK) is central to current debate concerning the origins and spread of
agriculture in Europe (e.g. Lukes and Zvelebil, 2006; Lüning, 1988; Modderman, 1988; Zvelebil et al.,
2008). Despite earlier assertions that this culture represented an homogenous entity, reflecting a rapid
east–west colonization event, recent research has increasingly highlighted significant local and regional
diversity in the material culture inventories and subsistence strategies of the individual groups (e.g.,
Bánffy, 2004; Gronenborn, 1999, 2003, 2004; Lukes, 2004, 2006; Lukes and Zvelebil, 2004; Mateiciu-
cová, 2004; Price, 2000; Rulf, 1995, 1997; Whittle, 1996; Zvelebil, 2000a, 2000b, 2004; Zvelebil et al.,
2008). The diversity, as identified, has in many cases been interpreted as representing continuity in in-
digenous lifeways and the integration of indigenous hunter-forager material culture and world views
into the LBK, as various elements of food-production economies are transmitted into Europe.
In order to begin to generate meaningful narratives addressing the role of indigenous groups within
the LBK we began our research at the site level. This focus allows us to consider a single community at a
single site where individuals actively engaged with the materiality of life in the daily cycle of practice and
negotiation of identity. Their activities were undertaken in accordance with both individual and commu-
nal motives (as per the concepts of agency, habitus and practice discussed elsewhere by Barrett [1994,

THE EMERGENCE OF THE LBK 133

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
 1997], Bourdieu [1977, 1990], Dobres and Robb [2000], Giddens [1979, 1984], Hodder [1992, 2000],
and Shanks and Tilley [1992]) (Lukes et al., 2008). One of the advantages of this site-level focus is that it
enables us to explore how individual identities are constructed (and/or deconstructed/reconstructed)
through the memories and learned experiences that are bound up in established socio-political tradi-
tions.
From this initial perspective, the current paper will inform the key debates in relation to the three
main approaches used to model the emergence of the LBK culture:
x Migrationist models, which highlight the role of incoming colonists (Cavalli-Sforza and Cavalli-
Sforza, 1995; Childe, 1957; Piggott, 1965; van Andel and Runnels, 1995; Vencl, 1986);
x Indigenist models, which focus on the role of local indigenous groups (Barker, 1985; Dennell, 1983;
Pluciennik, 1998; Tilley, 1994; Whittle, 1996);
x Integrationist models, which explore the interaction of both population groups (Chapman, 1994;
Price, 1987; Renfrew, 1996; Zvelebil, 1986, 1995, 1996).
In outlining the nature of social interaction, participation and the intergenerational transmission of
knowledge at the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition, the above models allow for the understanding of the
LBK at the communal level through the identification of the intergenerational transmission and acquisi-
tion of knowledge. This transmission/acquisition is, to some degree, structured and motivated by social
context as expressed through variation in stylistic elements of material culture (Lukes et al., 2008). As
such, whilst the focus of the research reported here is on the evidence for migration at the Vedrovice
cemetery/settlement, the overarching research agenda comprises an examination of personal bi-
ographies and communal identity derived from the application of bioarchaeological analyses to human
and material remains (e.g. Lillie, 2008; Lukes et al., 2008; Richards et al., 2008; Smrčka et al., 2005,
2008; Zvelebil and Pettitt, 2008). By generating information aimed at elucidating personal biographies,
through the use of bioarchaeology, AMS dating and isotopic studies, we are able to identify those indi-
viduals who were indigenous to the region and those who had migrated into the region, and ascertain
which individuals might be considered as having had the fundamental knowledge essential for the de-
velopment of food production strategies.

The site

The site that forms the basis for the current study is Vedrovice, Moravia in the Czech Republic (Fig. 1).
This site has two key earlier Neolithic components: a settlement featuring traces of the materiality of
daily life (Podborský, 1993, 2002; Čižmář, 2002) and the focus of the current study, which is a cemetery
that has produced one of the largest collections of Neolithic human remains in Central Europe (Pod-
borský, 2002). Fortunately there are well-documented records of the material culture for both the cem-
etery and settlement site. Vedrovice is located in southern Moravia in the southeastern part of the Czech
Republic, near Moravský Krumlov in the Znojmo district (Ondruš 2002).
The inhumations in the Široká u Lesa cemetery at Vedrovice were deposited over the course of the
53 century BC, possibly continuing a little into the early 52nd century BC, a period spanning five or six
rd

generations (Pettitt and Hedges, 2008). In the wider context Vedrovice falls within the middle LBK
Flomborn phase, which saw a major expansion of the LBK into Central Europe (Gronenborn, 1999;
Price et al., 2001). To a certain extent then, the Vedrovice community can be seen as a pioneer in the re-
gion, existing as it did at a time when agriculture was newly established in Central Europe.

134 MAREK ZVELEBIL ET AL.

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
 Fig. 1 | Map showing the location of Vedrovice in the Czech Republic (right side) and the Neolithic sites at Vedrovice (left side)
as identified between 1961 and 2000 (based on Ondruš in Podborský [2002]). The main cemetery (I) is located to the top left
side of the plan in the area Široká u lesa, whilst indications of settlement and ca. 22 Neolithic burials were recovered between
the C19th and the 1950s in the area Za dvorem (centre and right side of map). Between 1961 and 1989, an LBK settlement of
ca. 5000m2 was investigated in the area of Široká u lesa by the archaeology department of the Moravian Museum in Brno

The material culture inventory and skeletal collection from Vedrovice includes ceramic vessels, minia-
ture vessels, weights, drilled ceramic disks and figurine fragments, post holes from housing structures,
pits, ovens, flaked and polished stone tools, grinding stones, faunal remains and bone tools (Berkovec,
2003; Berkovec and Veselá, 2003–2004; Berkovec et al., 2004; Humpolová, 2001; Humpolová and
Ondruš, 1999; Ondruš, 2002; Podborský, 2002; Lukes, 2006). In addition, there are ca. 81 individuals
interred in the Neolithic Široká u Lesa cemetery, and a further 23 burials from the Neolithic settlement
(Podborský, 2002; Crubézy et al., 1997; Smrčka et al., 2005; Lillie, 2008).
In general the material from the cemetery has a much greater degree of preservation and smaller
frequency of fragmentation than does that of the settlement site, yielding, for instance, a higher percen-
tage of intact vessels (Čižmář, 2002; Lukes, 2006). Furthermore, differences in the composition and
type of the material culture inventory between the cemetery and settlement have been identified, leading
to the suggestion that “the world of the living had been kept separate from the world of the dead” (Ber-
kovec et al., 2004). Hence, individual burials provide a unique opportunity to apply objective bioar-
chaeological approaches, supplemented by material culture in the form of grave goods, in order to con-
struct individual biographies that facilitate an exploration of the nature of individual identity in contrast
to the communal identity that is evident at the settlement.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE LBK 135

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
 Methodology

Sulphur isotope analysis

In the original research programme, sulphur isotope analysis was carried out on the collagen of 50 in-
dividuals from the Vedrovice cemetery (Richards et al., 2008). This method requires that large amounts
of collagen be available for analysis, as Richards et al. (2001, 186) have noted that previous work on
archaeological and palaeontological bone has been limited by the difficulty of measurement, as bone col-
lagen contains very little sulphur (0.16 wt%, calculated from amino acid composition). Furthermore
these authors have also noted that the collagen becomes increasingly chemically degraded over time.
The methodology for the measurement of sulphur isotopes in the bone collagen followed that of
Richards and colleagues (2001, 2003). Sulphur isotopes are somewhat indicative of diet, but are most
useful in determining the geographical location in which the individual resided during formation of the
collagen. Collagen is formed over the preceding one to two decades, yielding values reflecting fairly re-
cent locations (compared to strontium, discussed in the next paragraph). In general sulphur isotope
values vary between about –20 and +20 per mil, i.e., a total range of about 40 per mil; in the recent study
at Vedrovice the data generated indicated clustering around the value of 0, with a range of –2 to +2. This
is consistent with Vedrovice’s location in central Europe (Richards et al., 2011).

Strontium isotope analysis

We measured the strontium isotope ratios and concentrations in tooth enamel; these values reflect the
geological location where the individual spends his or her childhood, when their enamel is formed
(Price et al., 2002). Unlike bone, enamel, once formed, is not remodelled and, unlike bone and dentine,
it is highly resistant to postmortem diagenesis (Budd et al., 2000; Hoppe et al., 2003; Trickett et al.,
2003). Therefore strontium isotope values for enamel tell us whether adult individuals spent their child-
hoods in locations other than those at which they were eventually buried as adults (Richards et al., 2008).
The methodology used for the analysis of strontium isotopes followed that outlined by Richards and
colleagues (2008). Twenty-two individuals from Vedrovice were investigated during this stage of the
study. Three samples of the underlying crown dentine were obtained for use as proxies for the mobile soil
strontium (Budd et al., 2000; Hoppe et al., 2003; Montgomery et al., 2007). Chemical separation and
analysis of the enamel samples was undertaken at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropol-
ogy, Leipzig, Germany, using plasma ionization multicollector mass spectrometry (PIMMS) following
the methods outlined by Copeland and colleagues (2008). 87Sr/86Sr values measured for SRM987 (NIST
international strontium carbonate isotope standard), which was analysed concurrently with the samples,
were 0.71027 ± 0.000015 (1s, n = 7), which is well within its certified value of 0.71034 ± 0.00026.

Results

The results obtained from this stage of the analysis (Table 1) have demonstrated that migration occurred
in the population interred at Vedrovice. We will use the results presented below to evaluate the degree to
which migration represents ‘local’ movements between groups/individuals in a discrete geographical

136 MAREK ZVELEBIL ET AL.

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
Table 1 | Isotope ratios for twenty-two individuals at the Vedrovice cemetery, Czech Republic

S-EV A Individual %Coll 13C 15N %C %N C:N %S 34S 87/86Sr Sr ppm

3216 15/75 3.0 –19.2 10.0 40.6 14.4 3.3 0.2 –0.1 0.710847 71
3215 16/75 6.1 –19.9 9.7 44.3 15.9 3.2 0.2 –1.4 0.711150 77
1319 30/76 2.4 –19.5 9.5 32.2 11.0 3.4 0.1 2.6 0.710831 88
1300 38/76 tooth 0.710407 137
1308 42/77 1.2 –19.5 9.8 38.6 14.0 3.2 0.2 –1.1 0.711011 113
1320 43/77 3.0 –20.0 9.7 42.7 14.9 3.4 0.2 1.1 0.711242 78
3233 48/75 1.5 –19.8 10.3 37.0 12.9 3.3 0.2 –1.2 0.711032 82
3240 51/77 0.5 –20.7 9.5 40.7 11.7 4.0 0.709112 190
3237 54/78 6.5 –19.6 10.1 44.2 15.4 3.3 0.2 0.8 0.711092 58
1302 59/78 0.7 –19.4 10.3 27.8 9.8 3.3 0.711441 109
1309 62/78 1.0 –19.9 9.4 36.2 12.7 3.3 0.2 –0.3 0.711293 127
4011 66/70 n/a 0.711529 104
3217 73/79 4.9 –19.7 10.2 43.9 15.5 3.3 0.2 1.8 0.711009 75
3239 75/79 4.3 –19.5 9.3 44.7 15.3 3.4 0.2 0.9 0.711177 119
3219 79/79 3.9 –19.6 10.0 43.7 15.7 3.3 0.2 –3.4 0.709852 202
3218 82/79 3.8 –19.1 10.6 42.0 15.1 3.2 0.2 –0.6 0.711331 101
3222 84/80 2.2 –20.2 9.9 30.6 10.5 3.4 0.2 –1.4 0.710971 100
3235 93a/80 3.6 –19.8 10.2 41.6 14.3 3.4 0.2 2.4 0.711515 119
3244 102/81 4.4 –20.0 9.2 43.6 15.5 3.3 0.2 –0.2 0.712627 101
3236 104/81 2.5 –19.9 9.8 39.5 13.4 3.4 0.2 –1.5 0.711201 98
3242 105/81 7.3 –19.7 9.0 44.9 15.9 3.3 0.2 –0.1 0.711301 91
3238 107/82 4.9 –19.3 8.9 45.4 16.2 3.3 0.2 1.3 0.711373 49

Fig. 2 | Strontium ratio and concen-

tration data

THE EMERGENCE OF THE LBK 137

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
 area or longer-distance migrations from a wider interregional context; we will also consider the material
culture inventory of the cemetery population.

Sulphur isotope analysis

There is some evidence for variability in this population (Table 1), with two adult males (63/78 and
95/80) and one adult female (14/75) having S values higher than those of the others, and one adult male
(79/79) and one adult female (101/81) having S values that are lower than the others. The suggestion is
that these individuals resided somewhere other than in Vedrovice during the last 10–20 years of their
lives, although the absence of comparative data prevents further elucidation on this point (Richards et
al., 2008).

Strontuim isotope analysis

In the current study, the enamel strontium concentrations have a mean equal to 105 ± 36 ppm 1s and a
range of 49–202 ppm, n=23. These are consistent with omnivorous humans in non-coastal, temperate
Europe (Montgomery, 2002; Montgomery et al., 2007). Most of the individuals share a similar stron-
tium isotope value: 18 of the 22 individuals analysed form a cluster with a strontium isotope range of
0.7108–0.7115 and a mean equal to 0.7112 ± 0.0002 1s, n=18 (Table 1 and Fig. 2). This group includes all
of the juveniles, and is co-incident with the range of dentine ratios indicative of local mobile strontium
(Montgomery et al., 2007). The dentine range (0.7110–0.7114) corresponds well with values of
0.7110–0.7112 obtained for bone and dentine from the loess LBK site at Asparn-Schletz, in Lower Aus-
tria (Prohaska et al., 2002). It has been suggested that juveniles provide a useful way of estimating the
range of local strontium values for a community as they would, potentially, have had much less time in
which to undertake migration when compared to the adults (Evans and Tatham, 2004; Montgomery et
al., 2005; Schutkowski, 2002).
There are some exceptions however. One female (102/81) has a strontium isotope value higher than
the majority of the others, and two males (38/76 and 79/79) and one female (51/77) have values lower
than the majority, although the isotope ratio of individual number 38/76 is close to the main Vedrovice
cluster. These four individuals, who were buried in four different regions of the cemetery, appear to have
spent part of their childhoods at a location other than Vedrovice. None of the values for these individuals
are consistent with an origin in regions of geologically young rocks, such as recent volcanic basalts, or
marine sediments, such as Cretaceous chalks (McArthur et al., 2001; Montgomery et al., 2005; Price et
al., 2004). Neither do they result entirely from origins on Precambrian granites and gneisses of the
Bohemian Massif, where strontium ratios from pigs have been found to exceed 0.718 (Bentley and
Knipper, 2005). However, the female 102/81 has a strontium isotope ratio of 0.7126, indicative of some
dietary contribution from Palaeozoic or Precambrian rocks, which are found principally to the north and
west in upland regions (Bentley and Knipper, 2005). The values for the two individuals with the lowest
strontium isotope ratios (79/79 and 51/77) are consistent with younger Mesozoic rocks, such as those
found to the east and south of Vedrovice.
Furthermore, Smrčka et al. (2005) have noted the presence of individuals buried at the adjacent
settlement site whose Sr ratios point to nonlocal origins (child aged 6–7 years, Grave 3/1966, and child

138 MAREK ZVELEBIL ET AL.

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
aged 7–8 years, Grave 4/1969), as well as individuals whose strontium values suggest that they might
have moved more than once during their lifetime (child aged 5–6 years,Grave 5/1971, and male aged
40–50 years, Grave 10/1974).

Discussion

Using isotopic studies to detect migration/mobility

As noted at the outset of this paper, the data presented here represent one part of a much wider-ranging
study aimed at understanding the biosocial aspects of earlier LBK communities. Within this research
agenda, humans are recognised as being both biological organisms and social creatures; the research
emphasises the interaction between these two aspects of the human condition (Bush and Zvelebil, 1991;
Meiklejohn and Zvelebil, 1991; Larsen, 1997; Eriksson, 2003; Zvelebil and Pettit, 2008).
As there are around 300 known burials for the Moravian LBK, it is apparent that they represent an
important resource, given that the number of burials declined through the LBK as cremation rose in im-
portance. Cremation becomes a standard form of burial in the succeeding Middle and Late Neolithic
(only eight inhumations are known for the Stroke-Ornamented Pottery culture and 40 for the Moravian
Painted Ware [Lengyel] Culture [Dočkalová and Čižmář, 2008]), resulting in a paucity of inhumation
burials for study. Although flexed burial was the norm in the Moravian LBK, several forms of mortuary
disposal were involved, including the following: inhumation in cemeteries associated with small ham-
lets, group inhumations within settlements, group inhumations outside settlements, single inhu-
mations within settlements, inhumations within house structures, inhumations bearing traces of viol-
ence, and the recovery of disarticulated skeletal parts.
In relation to the designation ‘pioneer’, we sought to establish precisely how many individuals could
be identified as being nonlocal, and thereby potentially influential in the social interactions, and intergen-
erational transmission of knowledge that is intimately tied up with the integration/adoption of agricul-
ture within the region. The results from the analyses in the sulphur and strontium studies suggest that
whilst the majority of the population of Vedrovice remained indigenous to the study region, at least five
individuals who spent at least a part of their adult lives in different locations (sulphur isotopes) and three
(perhaps four) individuals who were either born elsewhere, or who spent a portion of their childhood
elsewehere (strontium isotopes), are interred in the cemetery population (Table 1). Only one of the indi-
viduals studied was shown by both methods to be of nonlocal birth/residence (individual 79/79), thus we
potentially have at least 4 males and 3 females who were not lifelong inhabitants of Vedrovice (Fig. 3).
On the basis of the sulphur and strontium analysis it appears that individual 79/79, an adult male,
appears have spent much of his childhood and adulthood away from the Vedrovice area, possibly in
coastal regions where marine resources were utilised. The only individual who is perhaps difficult to
determine within this stage of the analysis is individual 38/76, whose isotope ratio is close to the main
Vedrovice cluster. Moreover, as mentioned in the end of the previous section, Smrčka and colleagues
(2005), reporting on their analysis of the individual buried in the settlement, note that 2 children were
nonlocal, while one child and one adult male may have moved on more than one occasion during their
lifetimes.
Richards and colleagues (2008) report that individuals 51/77, 79/79 and possibly individual 38/76
at Vedrovice exhibit strontium signatures that are consistent with European lowland loess regions

THE EMERGENCE OF THE LBK 139

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
Fig. 3 | Grave clusters within the Vedrovice cemetery indicating internal structuring. Based on Ondruš in
Podborský (2002) with alterations and additions by authors based on new analyses

(e.g., Gallet et al., 1998, Price et al., 2001, 2004). The average bone strontium value obtained from the
sites closest to Vedrovice, Alicenhof in Austria and Moravská Nová Ves in the Czech Republic, is 0.7104
(Price et al., 2004) which is lower than the average of 0.7110 obtained from the enamel samples at Ve-
drovice but consistent with individual 38/76. The lower strontium ranges obtained for other loess-based
sites in Europe suggests that there is an enhanced contribution from Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks
to the loess in the vicinity of Vedrovice, which may reflect its position on the edge of the Bohemian
Massif. Consequently, it should be possible to identify immigrants to the site from the regions of Terti-
ary and Quaternary geology to the east and south of Vedrovice, such as the Hungarian Plain, where
lower biosphere strontium ratios, such as those obtained from individuals 51/77, 79/79, are found (Gib-
lin, 2005; Price et al., 2004).
The sulphur and strontium analyses have shown that the isotopic values of most of the individuals
at Vedrovice suggest that they probably spent all, or the majority, of their lives at or near Vedrovice. How-

140 MAREK ZVELEBIL ET AL.

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
 Table 2 | Comparison of individuals in terms of local or exotic habitation, based on strontium (start of life) and sulphur (later life)
isotopes (Richards et al., 2008; Smrčka et al., 2008). Where only strontium (Sr) or sulphur (S) measurements are known for a
specific individual we make the default assumption that individuals are local in the missing dimension (following Zvelebil and Pettitt,
2008)

Later life: local resident Later life: local travellers

Start of life: adult males 15/75, 23/75 (S only*), 25/75 (S only), 50/77 adult females 14/75 (S only) and
locally born (S only), 54/78, 57/78 (S only), 59/78 (Sr only), 66/70 101/81 (S only), adult male 63/78
(Sr only), 71/79 (S only), 73/79, 77/79 (S only), 82/79, (S only) and very old male 95/80
95/80 (S only), 99/81, 108/84 (S only), adult females (n=4)
13/75 (S only), 38/76 (S only), 42/77, 48/75, 62/78,
64/78, 72/79 (S only), 75/79, 80/79, 86/78 (S only),
86/80 (S only), 87/80 (S only), 91/80 (S only), 93a/80,
97/80 (S only), 100/81 (S only), 104/81, 107/82, un-
sexed adults 89/80 (S only), 90/80 (S only), 96/80
(S only), children 16/75, 17/75 (S only: high sulphur
probably due to breastfeeding/development), 28/76
(S only), 30/76, 31/76 (S only), 39/80, 43/77, 44/77
(S only), 56/78 (S only), 81b/79 (newborn), 84/80,
105/81, 106/82 (S only) (n=48)
Start of life: exotic: adult females 38/76 (Sr only), 51/77 (Sr only), 102/81, adult male 79/79, adult female
born elsewhere 70/79 (n=4) (51/77)? (n=1)

* Where only strontium (Sr) or sulphur (S) measurements are known for a specific individual we make the default assumption
that individuals are local in the missing dimension (after Zvelebil and Pettitt, 2008)

ever, there appear to be a few individuals who lived elsewhere as children or adults. Specifically, three
adult males and two adult females had sulphur isotope values indicating that they had lived elsewhere
within the period preceding their deaths (i.e. over the last 10 to 20 years of life), and two males and two
adult females had strontium isotope values indicating that they lived elsewhere as children.
The male adult (79/79), whose sulphur and strontium values differed from those of the rest of the
population, indicating that he had lived elsewhere both as a child and in the period preceding his death,
and who thus must have been a recent immigrant to Vedrovice, was buried with one of the richest grave
goods assemblages in the cemetery. This assemblage included a shoe-last adze; a bowl; imported Polish
flint blade fragments, possibly indicative of a hunter’s status; boar tusk and a Spondylus pendant (Zvele-
bil and Pettitt, 2008).
The results of our studies to date suggest that a small but significant percentage of the Vedrovice
community (about 10 %) were exotic to the settlement and originated in/or interacted with areas at all
points of the compass. This includes upland areas to the north, west and east and the Danube basin to
the south. There have been archeological findings that suggest that at this point of time the upland areas
would still have been supporting Mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities (see Pavlů, 2005; Lukes and
Zvelebil, 2006; more broadly, Gronenborn, 2003; Svoboda, 2003; but cf. Vencl and Fridrich, 2007). This
is difficult to confirm on chronological grounds give the paucity of dateable archaeological evidence, but
given the lack of early Neolithic settlement in these areas we suspect that derivation from or interaction
with hunter-gatherers is highly likely. However, the evidence presented here clearly indicates that both
males and females were mobile into and out of the Vedrovice area.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE LBK 141

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
 Life biographies

As part of the main research agenda we have considered the individual life histories of a number of the
individuals interred at Vedrovice (Zvelebil and Pettitt, 2008). The memory and meaning that is inter-
twined with burial practice and patterns of behaviour at Vedrovice allows us to generate insights into the
individual, mediated, and shared identities of the people who were born, lived, emigrated and immi-
grated to the region during the life of the settlement/cemetery, whose knowledge and experience would
have informed, modified and influenced social interactions at Vedrovice.
Of the individuals identified as having spent part of their adult life in different locations, or those
that spent a portion of their childhood elsewhere (Table 2; Fig. 3), the following three individuals have
been studied in some detail.
Individual 79/79: This relatively healthy individual was a late incomer into the Vedrovice commu-
nity, who was born and spent the last 10–20 years of his life in coastal regions utilising marine re-
sources. Given that his age at death was about 30 years, and considering trace elemental indicators, a
coastal location in south-eastern Europe seems the best option as the place of this individual’s birth,
childhood and adult life. Yet he ended up buried at Vedrovice, and his grave is one of the richest in the
community. His head was covered in red ochre. Two pots, a boar tusk, and six flint blades – two made
from an imported Polish flint – were placed around his head, while a perforated spondylus pendant was
placed into his left palm, and two Krakow (Polish) flint blades and a shoe-last adze were placed along the
body. So, although a newcomer to the Vedrovice community, he received respect and achieved a high so-
cial status, indicated by the presence of imported flint tools, shoe-last adze and spondylus. Was he a life-
long traveller maintaining contact between communities of different traditions (LBK and, in this case,
Vinča), facilitating the transfer of knowledge, information and exchange of goods?
Individual 51/77: This woman falls into the same category as the man 79/79 in terms of her travels
and possibly of birthplace. Both have a strontium profile suggesting marine diet and coastal environ-
ment, probably somewhere in southeast Europe. Were they partners (or closely related) in their life and
travels? She lived to around 50 years of age, having led a relatively healthy life, with no significant pa-
thologies recorded. Her grave was disturbed by a later Neolithic feature (Moravian Painted Ware) so we
cannot be sure of the full range of her grave goods; certainly fragments from two pottery vessels were
found in the undisturbed part of the grave.
Individual 102/81: This woman died as a mature individual aged 40–45 between 5300 and 5040 BC
(with the time of death being most probably in the 53rd century BC according to analysis undertaken by
Pettitt and Hedges (2008)). Despite her relatively advanced age, she appears to have been relatively
healthy: no pathology was recorded on the postcranial skeleton, the molars show heavy traces of wear
normal for her age, but no other pathologies. She was born in an area to the north or northwest of Ve-
drovice, in the uplands of the Bohemian Massif, where older regions of geology, granites or gneiss, gen-
erate a specific strontium signature. She might have joined the Vedrovice community in young adult-
hood, coming either from the last hunter-gatherer communities living in the uplands of that area, or
from the first farming settlements that were just becoming established in eastern Bohemia. Though
buried oriented to the east-southeast, she was laid, unconventionally, on her right side, arms flexed,
hands folded. She was, then, part of the group of individuals interred at Vedrovice who had links to re-
gions of Bohemia to the northwest. A double perforated spondylus pendant was placed around her waist
or hip, and her head was covered by red ochre. The lack of ceramics combined with a state of health
which was free of dietary stressors associated with farming is thought-provoking: was she born a hunter-

142 MAREK ZVELEBIL ET AL.

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
gatherer who turned farmer upon joining the Vedrovice community? Her liminal identity is symbolised
by the exclusion of ceramics: ceramics being the most standard in the range of grave goods typical for a
Vedrovice female.
These individuals highlight the fact that there is evidence at Vedrovice, a community that existed at
the earlier part of the LBK cultural development, to suggest that ca. 10 % of the population were immi-
grants to a community that was indigenous to the region. As the origin, emergence, and dispersal of this
cultural tradition have been much debated subjects in the archaeology of the Neolithic and in recon-
structions of events that led to the formation of Neolithic Europe, the insights afforded by a multidisci-
plinary approach to the study of the settlement and cemetery sites at Vedrovice have proven invaluable.
In the Conclusions section we consider the significance of the data we have generated.

Conclusions

For some time now the LBK has been viewed as a classical case of demic diffusion, a migration of entire
farming communities from Southeast Europe into Central Europe in the first instance; and then beyond
into Western Europe and the North European plain (see Childe, 1925, 1957; Ammerman and Cavalli-
Sforza, 1984; Ammerman and Biagi, 2003; Gkiasta et al., 2002; cf. Gronenborn, 2007; for a critique of
this Anglo/American-centric position).
More recently the debate has shifted, with the proposal and discussion by various authors of alter-
native forms of the origin and dispersal of the LBK, involving a major genetic and cultural contribution
to the formation of the LBK by local hunter-gatherer communities of the Mesolithic (e.g. Tillmann,
1993; Gronenborn, 1999, 2003, 2007; Zvelebil, 2000b, 2004, 2005; Lukes and Zvelebil, 2004; Whittle,
1996). The fact that the question has not been resolved through the consideration of LBK groups at the
community or population level has obscured the fine detail of socio-cultural interactions at this pivotal
time in the formation of Neolithic Europe.
Summarizing the results of our bioarchaeological research at Vedrovice, we envisage a settlement
of first farmers in southern Moravia that also served as a gateway community both in terms of incoming
individuals and, we would like to argue, individuals leaving to begin other early farming communities. It
is possible that Vedrovice was founded by a small community of incomers, founders who would prob-
ably have originated in western Hungary towards the end of the formative phase of the LBK (Phase
1a/1b) some time before 5300 BC.
Soon after Vedrovice was founded, it began attracting people from hunting-gathering communities
within the region and outside it. It is at this point or shortly after, at around 5300 BC, that the Široká u
Lesa cemetery was founded to serve the Vedrovice community, upslope from the settlement. The burial
here of incomers who had been born elsewhere shows the increasingly cosmopolitan nature of the settle-
ment, where women, in particular, seem to have joined the society from outside. Judging by their ma-
terial cultural associations, and in one case by biochemical analysis, these immigrants seem for the most
part to have come from the region of the Bohemian-Moravian uplands and from northeast Bohemia.
Vedrovice also served as a focal point of a far-flung contact network that facilitated the exchange of
goods and information. This included regions located at a considerable distance from southern Moravia,
notably southern Poland, northern Bohemia, western Hungary, and coastal south-eastern Europe.
These connections are evident in the material culture, which utilized resources from those areas, such
as the spondylus ornaments, southern Polish flint, Hungarian radiolarite, or schist/amphibolite from

THE EMERGENCE OF THE LBK 143

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
 northern Bohemia (Zvelebil and Pettitt, 2008). It is also made evident by the burial of “travellers” in the
cemetery – people that had spent much of their adult life away from Vedrovice but ended up buried
there – and in one case, by the presence of a man who was both born elsewhere and who had lived most
of his adult life away from the settlement. In most cases, these people had gained high social status and
were buried accordingly. The importance of these individuals in facilitating exchange of information
and transmission of knowledge, as well as in contributing to the overall cultural coherence of the LBK
tradition as a social phenomenon, cannot be overestimated.
Our research to date has, we believe, facilitated the development of a more holistic understanding
of the meanings embedded in material culture, burial and social interactions at the start of the LBK. Our
assessment of the ways in which memory and meaning are integral to the processes of cultural trans-
mission, the intergenerational passage of knowledge and reception of information through contact
during these formative stages of the LBK have expanded our understanding of the role that immi-
gration, emigration and ‘travelling’ play in individual life histories. It is no longer acceptable to classify
the LBK within a normative paradigm, for, as Zvelebil and Pettitt (2008) emphasize, “we … now under-
stand that archaeological cultures were the taphonomically sorted, observable end results of socially
structured cultural transmission processes, and [the product] of their transformations through [both] in-
dividual and collective agency and routine practice”.

Acknowledgements

The research discussed in this paper is the result of an international collaborative partnership between
the following institutions: University of Sheffield; Anthropos Institute of the Moravské zemské Mu-
seum in Brno; researchers from the Czech Republic (Anthropos Institute and Charles University); Ger-
many (Mainz University, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig) and the United
Kingdom (Hull University, Bradford University, Oxford University). It was originally funded by a grant
from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (B/RG/AN185/APN18452).
Annette Weiske and Stephanie Bösel are thanked for their assistance with the isotopic measurements.

References

Ammerman, A.J., Cavalli-Sforza, L.L., 1984. The Neo-
lithic Transition and the Genetics of Population in
Europe. University Press, Princeton.
Ammerman, A.J., Biagi P. (Eds.), 2003. The Widen-
ing Harvest. Archaeological Institute of America, Bos-
ton.
Bánffy, E., 2004. Advances in the research of the Neo-
lithic transition in the Carpathian Basin, in: Lukes, A.,
Zvelebil M. (Eds.), LBK Dialogues: Studies in the
Formation of the Linear Pottery Culture. British Archae-
ological Reports International Series 1304, Archaeo-
press, Oxford, pp. 49–70.
Barker, G., 1985. Prehistoric Farming in Europe. Cam-
bridge University Press, Cambridge.
Barrett, J.C., 1994. Fragments from Antiquity: An Ar-
chaeology of Social Life in Britain 2900–1200 BC.
Blackwell, Oxford.
Barrett, J.C., 1997. Stone age ideologies. Analecta prae-
historica Leidensia 29, 121–129.
Bentley, R.A., Knipper, C., 2005. Geographical patterns
in biologically available strontium, carbon and oxygen
isotope signatures in Prehistoric SW Germany. Ar-
chaeometry 47 (3), 629–644.
Berkovec, T., 2003. Plastika na sídlišti kultury s lineární
keramikou ve Vedrovicích (okr. Znojmo). Ročenka
2003, Archeologické centrum Olomouc, Olomouc,
46–62.

144 MAREK ZVELEBIL ET AL.

Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
Berkovec, T., Veselá B., 2003–4. Pece na sídlišti kultury
s lineární keramikou ve Vedrovicích. Sborník Prací
Filosofické Fakulty Masarykovi Univerzity–Řada Ar-
chaeologická M8–9, 7–30.
Berkovec, T., Dreslerová, G., Nývlotova-Fišáková, M.,
Švédová J., 2004. Bone industry of the Linear Pottery
Culture (LBK) at Vedrovice, Moravia, in: Lukes, A.,
Zvelebil, M. (Eds.), LBK Dialogues: Studies in the
Formation of the Linear Pottery Culture. British Ar-
chaeological Reports International Series 1304, Ar-
chaeopress, Oxford, pp. 159–176.
Bourdieu, P., 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Uni-
versity Press, Cambridge.
Bourdieu, P., 1990. The Logic of Practice. Polity Press,
Cambridge.
Budd, P., Montgomery, J., Barreiro, B., Thomas, R.G.,
2000. Differential diagenesis of strontium in archae-
ological human dental tissues. Applied Geochemistry 15
(5), 687–694.
Bush, H., Zvelebil, M. (Eds.), 1991. Health in Past So-
cieties: Biocultural Interpretations of Human Skeletal
Remains in Archaeological Contexts. British Archae-
ological Reports, International Series 567. Tempus
Reparatum, Oxford.
Cavalli-Sforza, L.L., Cavalli-Sforza, F., 1995. The Great
Human Diasporas: The History of Diversity and
Evolution. Addison-Wesley, New York.
Chapman, J., 1994. The origins of farming in South
East Europe. Prehistoire Européenne 6, 133–156.
Childe, V.G., 1957. The Dawn of European Civilisation.
6th ed. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Čižmář, Z. 2002. Keramika z pohřebištěŠiroká u Lesa,
in: Podborský, V. (Ed.) Dvě pohřebiště neolitického lidu
s lineární keramikou ve Vedrovicích na Moravě. Ústav
Archeologie a Muzeologie Filozofické Fakulty Masary-
kovy Univerzity, Brno, pp. 151–190.
Copeland, S.R., Sponheimer, M., Lee-Thorpe, J.A., Le
Roux, P.J., Grimes, V., De Ruiter, D.J., Richards, M.P.,
2008. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) of tooth en-
amel: A comparison of solution and laser ablation
MCICPMS methods. Rapid Communications in Mass
Spectrometry 22 (3), 187–194.
Crubézy, E., Murail, P., Bruzek, J., Jelinek, J., Ondruš,
J., Pavuk, J., Teschler-Nicola, M., 1997. Sample charac-
terisation of Danubian cemeteries in central Europe:
the examples of Vedrovice (Moravia) and Nitra-Horne
Krskany (Slovakia), in: Le Néolithique danubien est ses
marges entre rhin et seine. Actes du 22e colloque inter-
régional sur le Néolithique. Cahiers de l’Association
pour la Promotion de la Recherche Archéologique en
Alsace, pp. 9–15.
Dennell, R. 1983. European Economic Prehistory. Aca-
demic Press, London.
Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
Dobres, M.A., Robb, J.E., 2000. Agency in archaeology:
paradigm or platitude, in: Dobres, M.A., Robb, J.E.
(Eds.) Agency in Archaeology. Routledge, London,
pp. 3–17.
Dočkalová, M., Čižmář, Z., 2008. Neolithic settlement
burials of adult and juvenile individuals in Moravia,
Czech Republic. Anthropologie 46 (1), 29–68.
Eriksson, G. (Ed.), 2003. Norm and Difference. Stone
Age dietary practice in the Baltic Region. Archaeologi-
cal Research Laboratory, Stockholm.
Evans, J.A., Tatham, S., 2004. Defining “local signa-
ture” in terms of Sr isotope composition using a
tenth–twelfth century Anglo-Saxon population living
on a Jurassic clay-carbonate terrain, Rutland, UK, in.
Pye, K., Croft, D.J. (Eds.), Forensic Geoscience: Prin-
ciples, Techniques and Applications. Geological
Society of London Special Publication, London,
pp. 237–248.
Gallet, S., Jahn, B.M., Lanoe, B.V., Dia, A., Rossello, E.,
1998. Loess geochemistry and its implications for par-
ticle origin and composition of the upper continental
crust. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 156 (3–4),
157–172.
Giblin, J., 2005. Strontium isotope and trace element
analysis of Copper Age human skeletal material from
the Great Hungarian Plain. PhD dissertation. Florida
State University.
Giddens, A., 1979. Central Problems in Social Theory:
Action, Structure and Contradiction in Social Analysis.
Macmillan, London.
Giddens, A., 1984. The Constitution of Society: Outline
of the Theory of Structuration. Polity Press, Cambridge.
Gkiasta, M., Russel, T., Shennan, S., Steele, J., 2002.
Neolithic transition in Europe: the radiocarbon record
revisited. Antiquity 77 (295), 45–62.
Gronenborn, D., 1999. A variation on a basic theme:
the transition to farming in southern Central Europe.
Journal of World Prehistory 13 (2), 123–209.
Gronenborn, D., 2003. Migration, acculturation, and
culture change in western temperate Eurasia, 6500–
5000 cal BC. Documenta praehistorica 30, 79–91.
Gronenborn, D., 2004. Comparing contact-period ar-
chaeologies: the expansion of farming and pastoralist
societies to continental temperate Europe and to south-
ern Africa. Before Farming [Online Version] 2004 (4),
Article 3, 1–35.
Gronenborn, D., 2007. Beyond the models: “Neolithi-
sation” in Central Europe. Proceedings of the British
Academy 144, 73–98.
Hodder, I., 1992. Theory and Practice in Archaeology.
Routledge, London.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE LBK 145
 Hodder, I., 2000. Agency and individuals in long-term
processes, in: Dobres, M.A., Robb, J.E. (Eds.), Agency
in Archaeology. Routledge, London, pp. 21–33.
Hoppe, K.A., Koch, P.L., Furutani, T.T., 2003. Assess-
ing the preservation of biogenic strontium in fossil
bones and tooth enamel. International Journal of Os-
teoarchaeology 13, 20–28.
Humpolová, A., 2001. Rondeloid číslo III lidu s Mo-
ravskou malovanou keramikou ve Vedrovicích, in: Pod-
borský, V. (Ed.), 50 let archeologických výzkumů Ma-
sarykovy univerzity na Znojemsku. Ústav archeologie a
muzeologie filosofická fakulta Masarykovy univerzity,
Brno, pp. 157–166.
Humpolová, A., Ondruš, V., 1999. Vedrovice, okres
Znojmo, in: Podborský, V. (Ed.) Pravěká sociokulturní
architektura na Moravě. Ústav archeologie a muzeolo-
gie filosofická fakulta Masarykovy univerzity, Brno,
pp. 167–219.
Larsen, C.S., 1997. Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Beha-
vior from the Human Skeleton. University Press, Cam-
bridge.
Lillie, M.C., 2008. Vedrovice: demography and palaeo-
pathology in an early farming population. Anthropolo-
gie XLVI (1–2), 135–152.
Lukes, A., 2004. Social perspectives on the constitution
of the Linear pottery culture (LBK), in: Lukes, A., Zvele-
bil, M. (Eds.), LBK Dialogues: Studies in the Formation
of the Linear Pottery Culture. British Archaeological
Reports International Series 1304, Archaeopress, Ox-
ford, pp. 17–33.
Lukes, A., 2006. The Constitution of the Czech LBK
Culture: A Social Perspective. PhD thesis, University of
Sheffield, Sheffield.
Lukes, A., Zvelebil, M. (Eds.), 2004. LBK Dialogues:
Studies in the Formation of the Linear Pottery Culture.
British Archaeological Reports International Series
1304, Archaeopress, Oxford.
Lukes, A., Zvelebil, M., 2006. Inter-generational trans-
mission of culture and LBK origins, some indications
from eastern-central Europe, in: Bailey, D., Whittle, A.,
Hofmann, D. (Eds.), Living Well Together? Settlement
and Materiality in the Neolithic of South-East and Cen-
tral Europe. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 139–150.
Lukes, A., Zvelebil, M., Petitt, P., 2008. Biological and
cultural identity of the first farmers: Introduction to the
Vedrovice Bioarchaeology Project. Anthropologie XLVI
(1–2), 117–124.
Lüning, J., 1988. Frühe Bauern in Mitteleuropa im 6.
und 5. Jahrtausend v. Chr. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Ger-
manischen Zentralmuseums 35 (1), 27–93.
Mateiciucová, I., 2004. Mesolithic traditions and the
origin of the Linear pottery culture (LBK), in: Lukes, A.,
146 MAREK ZVELEBIL ET AL.
Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
Zvelebil, M. (Eds.), LBK Dialogues. Studies in the
Formation of the Linear Pottery Culture. British Ar-
chaeological Reports International Series 1304, Ar-
chaeopress, Oxford, pp. 91–107.
McArthur, J.M., Howarth, R.J., Bailey, T.R., 2001.
Strontium isotope stratigraphy: LOWESS version 3:
best fit to the marine Sr-isotope curve for 0–509 Ma and
accompanying look-up table for deriving numerical
age. Journal of Geology 109 (2), 155–170.
Meiklejohn, C., Zvelebil, M., 1991. Health status of
European populations at the agricultural transition and
the implications for the adoption of farming, in: Bush,
H., Zvelebil, M. (Eds.), Health in Past Societies: Biocul-
tural Interpretations of Human Skeletal Remains in Ar-
chaeological Contexts. British Archaeological Reports
(International Series) 567, Tempus Reparatum, Oxford,
pp. 129–145.
Modderman, P.J.R., 1988. The Linear Pottery culture:
diversity in uniformity. Berichten van de rijksdienst
voor het outheidkundig bodemonderzoek 38, 63–139.
Montgomery, J., 2002. Lead and strontium isotope
compositions of human dental tissues as an indicator
of ancient exposure and population dynamics. PhD dis-
sertation, University of Bradford.
Montgomery, J., Evans, J.A., Powlesland, D. and Ro-
berts, C.A., 2005. Continuity or colonization in Anglo-
Saxon England? Isotope evidence for mobility, subsis-
tence practice, and status at West Heslerton. American
Journal of Physical Anthropology 126 (2):123–138.
Montgomery, J., Evans, J.A., Cooper. R.E., 2007. Re-
solving archaeological populations with Sr-isotope mix-
ing models. Applied Geochemistry 22 (7), 1502–1514.
Ondruš, V., 2002. Dvě pohřebiště Lidu s Neolitickou
lineární keramikou ve Vedrovicích, in: Podborský, V.
(Ed.), Dvě pohřebiště Neolitického lidu s lineární ke-
ramikou ve Vedrovicích na Moravě. Ústav archeologie a
muzeologie filosofická fakulta Masarykovy univerzity,
Brno, pp. 9–122.
Pavlů, I., 2005. Neolitizace Evropy. Archeologické
rozhledy 57, 293–302.
Pettitt, P., Hedges, R.E.M., 2008. The age of the Vedro-
vice cemetery: the AMS radiocarbon dating pro-
gramme. Anthropologie XLVI (2–3), 125–34.
Piggott, S., 1965. Ancient Europe. Edinburgh Univer-
sity Press, Edinburgh.
Pluciennik, M., 1998. Deconstructing ‘the Neolithic’ in
the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, in: Edmonds, M.R.,
Richards, C. (Eds.), Understanding the Neolithic of
North-Western Europe. Routledge, London, pp. 61–83.
Podborský, V. (Ed.), 1993. Pravěké dějiny Moravy. Mu-
zejní a Vlastivědná Společnost v Brně, Brno.
Podborský, V. (Ed.), 2002. Dvě pohřebiště Neolitického
lidu s lineární keramikou ve Vedrovicích na Moravě.
Ústav archeologie a muzeologie filosofické fakulty Ma-
sarykovy univerzity, Brno.
Price, T.D., 1987. The Mesolithic in Western Europe.
Journal of World Prehistory 1, 225–332.
Price, T.D., 2000. Europe’s first farmers: an introduc-
tion, in: Price, T.D. (Ed.), Europe’s First Farmers. Uni-
versity Press, Cambridge, pp. 1–18.
Price, T.D., Bentley, R.A., Lüning, J., Gronenborn, D.,
Wahl, J., 2001. Prehistoric human migration in the Lin-
earbandkeramik of Central Europe. Antiquity 75 (289),
593–603.
Price, T.D., Burton, J.H., Bentley, R.A., 2002. The char-
acterization of biologically available strontium isotope
ratios for the study of prehistoric migration. Archaeo-
metry 44 (1), 117–135.
Price, T.D., Knipper, C., Grupe, G., Smrčka, V., 2004.
Strontium isotopes and prehistoric human migration:
the Bell Beaker Period in Central Europe. European
Journal of Archaeology 7 (1), 9–40.
Prohaska, T., Latkoczy, C., Schultheir, G., Teschler-
Nicola, M., Stingeder, G., 2002. Investigation of Sr iso-
tope ratios in prehistoric human bones and teeth using
laser ablation ICP–MS after Rb/Sr separation. Journal
of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry 17 (8), 887–891.
Renfrew, C., 1996. Prehistory and identity of Europe, or
don’t let’s be beastly to the Hungarians, in: Graves-
Brown, P. Jones, S., Gamble, C. (Eds.), Identity and
Archaeology. The Construction of European Commu-
nities. Routledge, London.
Richards, M.P., Fuller, B.F., Hedges, R.E.M., 2001. Sul-
phur isotopic variation in ancient bone collagen from
Europe: Implications for human palaeodiet, residence
mobility, and modern pollutant studies. Earth and
Planetary Science Letters 191, 185–190.
Richards, M.P., Fuller, B.T., Sponheimer, M., Robinson,
T., Ayliffe, L., 2003. Sulphur isotope measurements
in archaeological samples: some methodological con-
siderations. International Journal of Osteoarchaeo-
logy 13, 37–45.
Richards, M.P., Montgomery, J., Nehlich, O., Grimes,
V., 2008. Isotopic analysis of humans and animals
from Vedrovice. Anthropologie XLVI (1–2), 185–194.
Rulf, J., 1995. Provinces, regions and sub-regions: the
Labe/Elbe group of Linear Pottery Culture example, in:
Kuna, M., Venclová, N. (Eds.), Whither Archaeology?
Papers in Honour of Evžen Neustupný. Institute of
Archaeology, Prague, pp. 299–312.
Rulf, J., 1997. Die Elbe-Provinz der Linearbandkera-
mik. Památky archeologické, supplementum 9. Arch-
eologický Ústav, Prague.
Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
Schutkowski, H., 2002. Mines, meals and movement:
a human ecological approach to the interface of ‘history
and biology’, in: Smith, M. (Ed.), Human Biology and
History. Society for the Study of Human Biology
Series 42. Taylor and Francis, London, pp. 195–202.
Shanks, M., Tilley, C., 1992. Re-Constructing Archaeol-
ogy: Theory and Practice. 2nd ed. Routledge, London.
Smrčka, V., Bůzek, F., Erban, V., Berkovec, T., Dočk-
alová, M., Neumanová, K., Fišáková, M.N., 2005.
Carbon, nitrogen and strontium isotopes in the set of
skeletons from the Neolithic settlement at Vedrovice
(Czech Republic). Anthropologie (Brno) XLIII (2–3),
315–323.
Smrčka, V., Mihaljevič, M., Zocová, J., Šebek, O., Hum-
polova, A., Berkovec, T., Dočkalová, M., 2008. Trace-
elemental analysis of skeletal remains of humans and
animals at the Neolithic settlement in Vedrovice (Czech
Republic). Anthropologie (Brno) XLVI (2–3), 219–226.
Svoboda, J. (Ed.), 2003. Mezolit Severních Čech. Brno.
Tilley, C., 1994. A Phenomenology of Landscape:
Places, Paths and Monuments. Berg, Oxford.
Tillmann, A., 1993. Kontinuität oder Diskontinuität?
Zur Frage einer bandkeramischen Landnahme im süd-
lichen Mittleleuropa. Archäologische Informationen 16
(2), 157–187.
Trickett, M.A., Budd, P., Montgomery, J., Evans, J.,
2003. An assessment of solubility profiling as a decon-
tamination procedure for the Sr-87/Sr-86 analysis of ar-
chaeological human skeletal tissue. Applied Geochem-
istry 18 (5), 653–658.
Van Andel, T.H., Runnels, C.N., 1995. The earliest
farmers in Europe. Antiquity 69, 481–500.
Vencl, S., 1986. The role of hunting-gathering popu-
lations in the transition to farming: a central European
perspective, in: Zvelebil, M. (Ed.), Hunters in Transi-
tion: Mesolithic Societies of Temperate Eurasia and
their Transition to Farming. University Press, Cam-
bridge. pp. 43–52.
Vencl, S., Fridrich, J., 2007. Archeologie Pravěkých
Čech 2. Paleolit a Mezolit. Archeologický ústav AVCR,
Prague.
Whittle, A., 1996. Europe in the Neolithic: The Cre-
ation of New Worlds. University Press, Cambridge.
Zvelebil, M. (Ed.), 1986. Hunters in Transition: Meso-
lithic Societies of Temperate Eurasia and Their Transi-
tion to Farming. University Press, Cambridge.
Zvelebil, M., 1995. Neolithisation in eastern Europe: a
view from the frontier. Poročilo o raziskovanju paleo-
litika, neolitika in eneolitika v Sloveniji 22, 107–150.
Zvelebil, M., 1996. The agricultural frontier and the
transition to farming in the circum-Baltic region, in:
THE EMERGENCE OF THE LBK 147
 Harris, D. (Ed.), The Origins and Spread of Agriculture
and Pastoralism in Eurasia. University College London
Press, London, pp. 323–345.
Zvelebil, M., 2000a. Les derniers chasseurs-collecteurs
d’Europe tempérée, in: Les derniers chasseurs-cuil-
leurs d’Europe occidentale (13000–5500 av. J.-C.), Actes
du colloque international de Besançon, octobre 1998.
Presses Universitaires Franc-Comtoises, Besançon,
pp. 379–406.
Zvelebil, M., 2000b. The social context of the agricul-
tural transition in Europe, in: Renfrew, C., Boyle, K.
(Eds.), Archaeogenetics: DNA and the population pre-
history of Europe. McDonald Institute Monographs,
Cambridge, pp. 57–79.
Zvelebil, M., 2004. Who were we 6000 years ago? In
search of prehistoric identities, in: Jones, M. (Ed.), The
Traces of Ancestry: Studies in Honour of Colin Renfrew.
McDonald Institute Monographs, Cambridge, pp. 41–60.
148 MAREK ZVELEBIL ET AL.
Unauthenticated | 95.105.140.214
Download Date | 3/27/14 10:49 AM
Zvelebil, M., 2005. Homo habitus: agency, structure
and the transformation of tradition in the constitution
of the TRB foraging-farming communities in the North
European plain (ca. 4500–2000 BC). Documenta Prae-
historica XXXII, 87–101.
Zvelebil, M., Pettitt, P., 2008. Human condition, life,
and death at an early Neolithic settlement: bioarchaeo-
logical analyses of the Vedrovice cemetery and their
biosocial implications for the spread of agriculture in
Central Europe. Anthropologie (Brno) XLVI (2–3),
195–218.
Zvelebil, M., Lukes, A., Pettitt, P., 2010. The emergence
of the LBK culture: Search for the ancestors. in: Gro-
nenborn, D., Petrasch, J. (Eds.), Die Neolithisierung
Mitteleuropas [The Spread of the Neolithic to Central
Europe]. Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentral-
museums, Mainz, pp. 301–326.